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Energy companies lead US stock indexes mostly higher

FILE - This Monday, July 6, 2015, file photo shows a sign for Wall Street carved into the side of a building in New York. Stocks are off to a mixed start on Wall Street, Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as losses for big department stores and materials companies outweigh gains in health care. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

U.S. stock indexes are mostly higher in afternoon trading Tuesday, led by gains in energy companies as the price of crude oil rebounded. Technology stocks were among the gainers. Gold also closed higher. Financial companies were down the most. Investors were looking ahead to the start of the second-quarter company earnings season and Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's testimony to Congress.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,424 as of 3:07 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 7 points to 21,424. The Nasdaq composite rose 11 points, or 0.2 percent, to 6,188. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 2 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,410. More stocks rose than fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

THE QUOTE: "We're in a sort of wait-and-see pattern right now ahead of Yellen's testimony in front of Congress," said Nadia Lovell, U.S. equity strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. "Also, people are waiting to get more clarity with earnings kicking off in earnest with the banks on...